The last Samourai

The Last Samurai ( The Last Samurai ) is an American film directed by Edward Zwick , released in 2003 . The film is a free adaptation of the events of the Satsuma rebellion in 1877.

Synopsis

The film is partially inspired by the Satsuma rebellion in 1877 , a samurai rebellion led by Takamori Saigō against the Japanese imperial army, and the story of Jules Brunet , a French officer who resigned from the French army by loyalty to the last Tokugawa shogun Yoshinobu who had previously passed a treaty of friendship with Napoleon III .

In 1876, Nathan Algren, a veteran of the Indian Wars, was hired by the politician and adviser of Emperor Meiji , Omura. The latter wants to get rid of a former Japanese army general, the legendary samurai Katsumoto, and hires Algren to train the Japanese army.

While Japanese conscripts wait in a forest in Yoshino for the arrival of the samurai, the latter attack and kill them. Algren is captured and taken to the village of Katsumoto’s son, Nobutada, far into the mountains. In daily contact with samurai, Algren is seduced by their state of mind and values, which Katsumoto tries to preserve. It is alongside the samurai that he takes part at the end of the old order, guided by his sense of honor.

Katsumoto returns to Tokyo, the imperial capital. New laws go against the samurai order. Katsumoto pleads their case with the emperor, but he is rejected. He returned to the mountains with Algren, and soon the army came to fight.

In the one battle, where the number and superiority of the equipment is on the side of the government army, the rebels inflict heavy losses on the army, but lose the battle. Katsumoto, seriously injured by Gatling machine gun fire , asks Algren to help him practice seppuku .

Algren survives, and hands Katsumoto’s sword back to the Emperor, who then revises his judgment and disavows Omura and the US ambassador.

Production

Filming took place in New Zealand , with a Japanese cast and an American team. The views of Mount Fuji have been added thanks to computer-generated images, giving the illusion of seeing the mountain from Yokohama . Many scenes were also shot in California, in the studios of the Warner.

Music

All music was composed by Hans Zimmer and played by the Hollywood Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Blake Neely .

A Way of Life 8:03

Spectra in the Fog 4:07

Taken 3:36

A Hard Teacher 5:44

To Know My Enemy 4:49

Idyll’s End 6:41

Safe passage 4:57

Ronin 1:53

Red Warrior 3:56

The Way of the Sword 7:59

A Small Measure of Peace 7:59

Reception

The film was a commercial success, earning $ 456,758,981 in global box office (including $ 111,127,263 in the US ), ranking sixth in the global box office of films released in 2003 2 . It attracted 2,181,681 spectators in the cinemas in France , 577,933 in Belgium , 516,394 in Quebec and 327,629 in Switzerland 3 .

It receives 65% of positive reviews, with an average score of 6.4 / 10 and based on 216 reviews collected, on the website Rotten Tomatoes 4 . He scores 55/100, based on 44 critics, on Metacritic 5 .